Happy Friday folks! Sorry for the here and there this week. Let’s just say that once we thought we were in the clear with jetlag we had some throw up action and we have a 2 year old that is persisting to get out of his bed. As in from 3Am on over and over and over again. In addition to the crazy sleep stuff we have had that bi-yearly surge in defiance and attitude from a certain oldest child and tantrums and teething from a certain 2 year old. It is a recipe for some insanity I tell you.  It is getting better SLOWLY but we are so very tired…thus, less posting about fun things!

But for some Friday fun I thought I would tell you about Canton!  For those of you that are not from Texas (I’m not technically, but I claim the state for my husband) you may have never heard of Canton.  Canton is a town in Texas that hosts First Mondays. It’s about 2 hours outside of Ft Worth where we were recently visiting my family. Here is the link  for First Monday Trade Days in Canton. I linked you to the Shopper’s page. I love how they give advice on how to dress in layers, etc. It is quite a mission to go to Canton but really worth it if you can get friends to go too!

It’s the most amazing flea market ever and it’s HUGE. There are organized pavilions of goodies plus lots of outdoor setups with lots of lots of junk treasures!!!You can find just about anything at Canton. Kitchen gadgets, house decor, clothes plants, pets, and on and on. And for the most part the food is all fair food like kettle corn, corn dogs (known as Corny dogs in Texas), turkey legs and funnel cakes.

I have been a couple of times and when I realized that the timing would line up to go over our Texas trip I was delighted! This time I went with my mom and my sister-in-law Tina and her mom, Lisa. We left groggy and excited at 6:30 in the morning. We picked up Lisa and headed to Starbucks…and then to Chickfila. Caffeine and nourishment. We were set.  We chatted away as we drove and arrived in time to be some of the first in the parking lot and in the shops. It was chilly when we started but warmed up quickly. We could not have asked for better weather. Did I mention that Seth graciously told me to go and had the kids for the day?!  It was SO nice to have a day away not worrying about feeding the kids, nap vs. no naps, yada, yada. And it is rare that my mom is off work and able to get away, so it was a huge treat that she came!

It was fun going to Canton this time around knowing we will have a home of our own soon to decorate. I came away with 3 botanical prints, a few vintage dishtowels, an old door (not a full size but a smaller one) that I hope to turn into a coffee table if Seth humors me, an old Dr. Pepper crate, an old wire lamp shade frame and some other little treasures.

Here are a few shots from the day. I didn’t even take my camera because I didn’t want it to weigh me down and hold me back from any spectacular deals….so Tina kindly snapped a few shots on her iphone. Next time I will force myself to take my camera because you just can’t imagine what all you see!

this is a baby goat someone had dressed up for a walk around canton. we thought for sure she was selling it. I’m telling you, you see the strangest things at Canton. You could spend a day just people watching! Of course it might have been more exciting to me in terms of people watching after living in straight-laced Switzerland.

redneck wine glasses

and here is the old door, can’t you all just see the potential?! Tina bought a full-sized door and drilled it into the wall as a headboard.

If you are ever in Texas swing by Canton.  In a couple of years I am going to try to talk my other SIL, Stephanie into flying to Texas with me for another Seckinger/Dyer ladies shopping day!

In other shopping news, I talked Seth into driving to Heidelberg tomorrow to do our 4 month monster shopping trip at the base. I cried the last time I finished the 3 overflowing carts so I thought he might be better to go this time…never mind the fact that a 5 item list at our grocery store can be a shopping challenge for him. I wrote the list yesterday and it is both sides of an 8 1/2 by 11 sheet of paper.  I’m not sure if I feel worse for him or for me being home with the boot camp kids.

Hope you all have a great weekend whatever your plans might be! I am hoping for health, sleep and some snow!